Page 23 of Counting Quarters

Chapter Twelve

Blaire

MeetingKyleonthe porch at the end of the day became an accidental regular thing. I couldn't make any sense of his erratic work hours. He seemed to pop in and out at all times throughout the day, and by some twist of fate, I always wound up sitting in one of those faded Adirondack chairs when his police cruiser pulled into the driveway.

He'd fall into the chair beside mine with a deep sigh and we'd rest beside each other, hardly speaking any words. His silence was comforting—a stark contrast to the constant state of chaos Grammy usually kept me in.

There was something to be said about a person who knew when to shut up.

It seemed to bother him that I moved into my apartment without any furniture, though. It bothered Mom, too, but she was easier to avoid.

He made good on his promise to take me into the secondhand store in town to pick out furniture, and then helped me haul the heavy kitchen table and couch that I scored up the stairs without complaint. When Greer Myers passed away and her family held an estate sale in her home down the street, I managed to find a matching bedroom set, including a beautiful antique dresser and mirror that would have cost a fortune anywhere else. Kyle bargained with the Myers enough to fit it into my budget. Getting that up the stairs had earned a few frustrated comments about my choices, but nothing too bad.

Today, he plopped into the chair beside me with another deep sigh, but I knew this time was going to be different. He needed to talk, and I was stuck on the receiving end, whether I liked it or not.

“Another animal body was found.”

His chrome-colored eyes stared off into the street before us, a frown deepening between his eyebrows. He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees.

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know there were any bodies found before this one.

“It’s always a different animal, but the message is the same,” he went on, still avoiding eye contact. “They’re slung up with ribbons and dressed in one of Rayner’s victims' clothes.”

My face scrunched in a scowl. That seemed especially morbid.

He chuckled humorlessly, then leaned back into his seat and slumped down, shaking his head.

“It’s like he’s toying with us. Trying to get us to look here while he does something over there. I just can’t figure out where there is.”

I considered him for a moment, unsure why he was bothering to tell me about this. “Maybe it’s not a distraction. Maybe he’s just biding his time… testing you.”

“Is that any better?”

I shrugged. “No. But it sounds like you feel like you’re missing something. I’m just saying, Rayner isn’t that deep. He doesn’t think much beyond himself.”

Kyle let that roll around in his head for a moment. We sat in comfortable silence as I gave him the space he needed.

“You said you could help before. You talked about these girls like… like you were talking to them directly.”

His shoulders tensed disbelievingly, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. He felt embarrassed to bring it up, but desperation had him considering every possibility. He knew that what he was suggesting wasn’t plausible—at least not in his mind—but he was willing to look into it. To see if there was substance in what I had said when I was high, or if it was just another Blaire rambling.

He wanted to help those girls so badly, he was willing to go insane in the process.

For some reason, that made me feel like he could be trusted. Like he wouldn’t use the information against me, the way Grammy assumed everyone else would.

I tucked my chin into my chest and lowered my voice when I admitted, “I do talk to them.”

A breathy, incredulous laugh escaped through his tightened lips as his brows raised to his hairline.

“You’ve got to give me more than that, Blaire.”

I thought about what he had said before, about the victim’s clothes, and an idea sprung on me.

“You said the animals were wearing the victims’ clothes. Were those the clothes they were wearing when they were taken?”

He nodded, and my lips spread in a wide smile that had his eyes widening at me like he thought I'd gone mad.

It might work. Maybe. But I had to get my hands on those clothes. I had to feel them for myself and see what information came forward.

“Can you take me to them?”

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